The whole nation is
caught in a spider's web.
Japan is leaving no stone
unturned in its offensive
against the poisonous redback spider. Armed with vacuums and fumigators, tweezers and chopsticks, nets and
jars and pesticides, health
officials have hunted the spider down wells and manholes, under gravestones and
in schoolyards and parks
since the first enemy was
found near Osaka. They even
flew in emergency shipments
of antitoxin from Australia,
the redback's original home.
The redback spider is about
two-inches long. A handful
of deaths are reported
around the world due to its
bite each year.
In Australia, where the
spider is passe, no such death
has occured since the
antitoxin was developed in
1956. Most people who
are bitten recover after a
few days of sickness. But
the Japanese are leaving
nothing to chance. The
whole episode has fuelled
a debate on Japanese
quarantine laws.
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